Woman Claims Airline Told Her To Flush Emotional Support Hamster Down Toilet

A Miami college student is considering legal action against Spirit Airlines after she says an employee wouldn’t let her on a flight until she flushed her emotional support hamster down an airport toilet.

Belen Aldecosea said the incident occurred when she was at the Baltimore–Washington International Airport on Nov. 21, 2017, getting ready to fly home from school with Pebbles, a dwarf hamster who serves as her “emotional comfort animal.”

However, the rep insists that no employee ever recommended she flush her hamster down the toilet.

“Our reservation representative, unfortunately, did misinform the Guest that a hamster was permitted to fly as an emotional support animal on Spirit Airlines,” the spokesperson told the paper. “Rodents of any kind are not allowed on board for health and safety reasons.”

“We did offer the Guest a voucher for the inconvenience, but we never heard back from her,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Transport Security Administration told the Metro newspaper it has no problems with hamsters going through security.

“Hamsters are welcome in our checkpoint,” the agency said in a statement. “Their container would typically go through the X-ray while the owner would hold the hamster as the passenger walks through the metal detector so the creature is not subjected to radiation.”

Emotional support animals are companion animals that some medical professionals determine may benefit individuals with a range of physical, psychiatric or mental disabilities. Typically airlines allow common pets, like dogs and cats, to board planes.